


Meet, Moderately Cute

by noraebangbang



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-24
Updated: 2015-09-24
Packaged: 2018-04-23 05:49:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4865414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/noraebangbang/pseuds/noraebangbang
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fact: Park Chanyeol is a virgin.</p>
<p>Fact: Park Chanyeol has bought a pack of condoms once a month for the past eight months.</p>
<p>Fact: Every single time, without fail, the same tiny clerk scans his purchase.</p>
<p>Fact: Park Chanyeol really, really likes this clerk’s face.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Meet, Moderately Cute

**Author's Note:**

> This is super short and based on a prompt I found on tumblr.

Fact: Park Chanyeol is a virgin.

 

Fact: Park Chanyeol has bought a pack of condoms once a month for the past eight months.

 

Fact: Every single time, without fail, the same tiny clerk scans his purchase.

 

Fact: Park Chanyeol really, really likes this clerk’s face.

 

He tried not to. The first time, he’d blushed his way to the check-out lane to pay for a pack of extra-large ribbed-for-pleasure condoms. And he’d fully intended to use them—he was more than ready to finally have a sex life and his girlfriend at the time seemed receptive. Unfortunately, she was receptive to someone else first. Chanyeol hadn’t even gotten a chance to take the condoms out of the bag.

 

When he went to buy himself something to drink on the way to work the following month, he noticed the same clerk. Short. Full, heart-shaped lips. Light tan. Shaggy black hair dusting against his brows and ears. He looked bored with life, as he had the first time. Chanyeol wanted to go up to him again. For some reason, he thought grabbing another box of condoms might be a great idea. A conversation starter.

 

It was not.

 

He left the second time without a word to this pocket-sized checker other than  _thanks_.

 

The third time, he managed to stretch it to  _thanks, you too_  when the clerk told him to have a nice day. He paid attention to the nametag. Kyungsoo. Chanyeol thought it was a really nice name, but a little heavier than someone of his stature probably deserved. He went home to look up any guys named Kyungsoo who work at the pharmacy chain and wound up finding fifteen.

 

During the fourth time, Kyungsoo asked how he was doing, and Chanyeol bungled things royally there since he’d only anticipated hearing a greeting, a total, and a goodbye. He managed an answer, but a long and rambling one that left Kyungsoo looking as if he regretted asking. Their transaction ended with Kyungsoo telling him  _enjoy_ , and Chanyeol’s brain had already prepared for  _have a nice day_ , which just led to him saying  _you too_.

 

He almost didn’t return for the fifth month thanks to that.

 

But he did, and he’d prepared himself a little better. He spent the evening before charting out all the possible conversation topics and made mental notes about each of them, just to be ready for anything. He did not prepare for a different clerk, though. He stood in the aisle for a while, waiting to see if maybe a shift change was coming. Loitering just to see Kyungsoo felt weird, and yet he stared at all the different nail polishes and made serious concentrating faces to seem less awkward.

 

Kyungsoo came in about twenty minutes later, and Chanyeol realized he hadn’t seen the other boy smile until that moment. He smiled as well, went to get his monthly condom supply, and didn’t screw up a single bit of conversation. That time, Kyungsoo actually looked him in the eyes.

 

The sixth and seventh times were uneventful, other than Kyungsoo getting a haircut. It looked nice, but Chanyeol missed the slightly longer hair. The eighth time he came in, Kyungsoo had the sides and back of his hair shaved, the rest dyed a deep burgundy. It distracted Chanyeol for a moment and he stood staring for just a bit too long and a woman behind him with a cranky toddler on her hip complained loudly.

 

“You changed your hair,” Chanyeol said, which earned him a glance from Kyungsoo. A glance and a smile.

 

“I got bored,” Kyungsoo said. “Don’t like it?”

 

“No, no, it looks great,” Chanyeol said.

 

“Thank you.” Kyungsoo smiled and handed over the receipt and change. “See you next month.”

 

And that was that.  _See you next month._  


 

Now, at month nine, Chanyeol tries to hype himself up. He’d circled the date on his calendar, set a little reminder, put a post-it note on his mirror. Kyungsoo clearly noticed him. But maybe that meant he shouldn’t come in as much. Or maybe he should come in more? Maybe asking this guy to hang out is a terrible idea.

 

He stares at his carefully-crafted condom package tower and sighs. May as well add one more box to the pile. Top it off, so to speak. And if things go horribly wrong, moving house is always an option. He grabs his wallet and keys and walks his way to the pharmacy.

 

It’s 5:43, and Kyungsoo stands behind the front counter ringing up a man buying clearance candy and some cheap DVDs. Chanyeol tries not to stare but it’s impossible and he nearly walks into a display rack when Kyungsoo looks over to him. That same little crooked smile comes back for a second before he goes back to ringing up the customer, and Chanyeol takes a few deep breaths and recalibrates his movements.

 

He grabs his usual, then marches back up front and waits for the woman in front of him to buy her bottled water before he steps forward.

 

“Hi.” It’s too forceful. He winces. But Kyungsoo doesn’t seem fazed.

 

“You’re late, aren’t you?” Kyungsoo asks. His eyes dart to Chanyeol before keying something into the register. “You’re usually here around four.”

 

Chanyeol did not prepare for that. He blanks. He’s pretty sure he’s sweating. “I…”

 

“You…” Kyungsoo snort-laughs quietly. “Your girlfriend must be insatiable.”

 

“I don’t have one,” Chanyeol says.

 

“Oh. Boyfriend, then.”

 

“No, it—” Chanyeol closes his eyes. Sighs again. Another recalibration. “Sorry. This is probably dumb. I just buy these to see you and it kind of snowballed into a thing.”

 

Kyungsoo’s eyes, already wider than anyone’s Chanyeol has ever seen, somehow manage to grow even bigger. “You…know there’s a whole store of other stuff you could’ve bought?” he says cautiously. “And that you could’ve just…said hi to me? Without the condoms?”

 

“Well I know that now,” Chanyeol says. “So this is me saying hi.”

 

“Okay. Hi.”

 

A nervous laugh putters out from Chanyeol and he folds his arms over his stomach. “Hi,” he says again. “Do…you maybe want to hang out sometime?”

 

“In what capacity?” Kyungsoo asks. He holds Chanyeol’s receipt out for him to sign. “Are you trying to be friends with me or are you hoping to use the condoms?”

 

“…Is both an option?” Grumbles behind him make Chanyeol feel even more awkward, but he tries to ignore that and stands up straighter. “Have dinner with me.”

 

“No,” Kyungsoo says. Every ounce of confidence in Chanyeol deflates. “You can come over. Here.” He holds the bag and receipt copy out to Chanyeol, who takes them both with some trepidation. At some point, he’d missed Kyungsoo writing his number on the receipt. “Text me. I’ll send you my address.”

 

“Oh…okay.” Even with all the preparation and rehearsing, Chanyeol didn’t actually expect to walk out of the store with a phone number. He’s dazed for a moment, nodding his head without much thought behind it. “Right. Yes. I will text you.”

 

“Okay,” Kyungsoo smiles. He motions for Chanyeol to step aside so that the line actually moves forward without a riot breaking out.

 

“Um…Okay, bye,” Chanyeol, still nodding, moves toward the sliding doors to walk out. He’s still not sure what just happened but it was probably good, if the flutters in his stomach are any indication.

 

He sits on a bench in the park near his apartment, receipt in one hand and phone in the other, before pecking out a short message to Kyungsoo. It takes practically no time at all to get a response—first an address, and then actual words—and as Chanyeol reads them over for the fifth time, they sink in, and he lets out an excited yell that startles the birds nearby.

_Don’t forget to bring your newest box._


End file.
